photo by: University of New Mexico

Arash Mafi

A physicist and interim dean at the University of New Mexico is vying to become the leader of KU’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, the university’s biggest academic unit.

Arash Mafi will be the second of four candidates to conduct a public presentation on the University of Kansas campus to become the new executive dean of KU’s College of Liberal Arts & Sciences. Mafi is scheduled to give a presentation at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Slawson Hall on the KU Lawrence campus. People who want to attend remotely can do so at kansas.zoom.us/j/98653321419#success. The passcode is 604135.

Mafi currently is the interim dean of the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of New Mexico. He has been a part of the New Mexico faculty since 2014, and has been interim dean since 2021.

In his current role, Mafi oversees 24 academic departments and schools, 460 faculty and 300 staff members, according to information in a KU press release.

Mafi is a physicist, and previously was the director of one of New Mexico’s top research centers, the Center for High Technology Materials. The center works with faculty members from electrical engineering, computer engineering, chemical engineering, nuclear engineering, physics, astronomy and several other disciplines, according to information from the University of New Mexico.

Mafi earned a bachelor’s in physics from Sharif University of Technology in Iran, and has both a master’s in physics and a doctorate in theoretical particle physics from Ohio State University. He also has private sector experience working for the multinational glass and ceramics giant Corning, where he focused on optical communications.

At New Mexico, he is a is a full professor in physics and astronomy, in addition to serving as interim dean.

KU is seeking a dean for the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences after years of interim leadership, when its former dean, Carl Lejuez, left to temporarily serve as provost for KU. The college’s current interim dean, John Colombo, has been serving since 2019.

The college is KU’s largest academic unit, with 11,000 undergraduate students, 1,700 graduate students, 700 faculty members and 375 staff members, spread across 50 departments, programs and centers.

KU plans to have two more public interviews for future dean candidates. They are scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Oct. 25; and 2 p.m. Oct. 28. Names of the other candidates haven’t yet been released, but will be prior to their interviews.

Alfred López of Purdue University was the first candidate. He is scheduled to give a public presentation at 2 p.m. today on the KU campus.